


Captain Swan One-Shots

by nerdywriter15



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-05 03:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10296248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdywriter15/pseuds/nerdywriter15
Summary: A collection of one-shots originally posted on Tumblr.





	1. With Anyone Else

**Author's Note:**

> This was the first CS thing I ever wrote! I hope you like it!

He never thought that he would have this. Well, he suppose he must have at one point, back when he was a naïve child, back when he was the straight-laced navel lieutenant who saw the world through rose-colored glasses. But then life happened, Liam died, and he became a pirate. And a pirate ship was no place for a little lad or lass. Even after Milah came into his life, he could never bring himself to ask her if she wanted to try. He saw the sadness on her face when she thought that he wasn't looking, when she stared wistfully off into the sunset. He knew that she was thinking of Bae, of the child that she never got to raise. As much as he wanted to (and gods he wanted to, he would have given up his ship, his treasure, everything, just to have a family with her) he couldn't ask her to replace her son. He loved her too much for that. So he resigned himself to the fact that he would never be a father, and told himself he was content just to hold her in his arms every night. And then the Crocodile killed her. If Killian Jones hadn't been sure that he would never be a father before his love was taken from him, he was certainly sure of it now. If he couldn't have a child with Milah, he didn't want one with anyone else.

She never thought that she would have this. When she was younger, she used to hold onto the silent hope that one day she would have a family. Not parents, of course not; she knew that she wasn't good enough for anyone to want her as their child. But maybe one day, she would meet someone, someone who would love her and want her like her parents hadn't, and she and that person would make a family together. When she met Neal, it seemed like her dream would finally become a reality. When, in the middle of that motel room, he told her that he was ready to settle down, when her finger found Tallahassee on that map, she thought that maybe it was finally going to happen. But then life happened, and she found herself sitting in the middle of a jail cell, seventeen, alone, and pregnant. She can still remember that day in the hospital, the day she had to give her baby away. She can still hear his cries as they carried him away, mixed with the sound of her own sobs. From then on, any time Emma Swan gave any thought to having a family or children, all she would hear were the cries of the baby she never got to know, and all she would feel was the intense guilt of what she had done. Some days all she wanted was her baby back, and if she couldn't have him, she didn't want to have another one with anyone else.

And yet, here they both sit many years later in the middle of a hospital room in a town called Storybrooke, Maine. A ring with a red stone adorns the finger on her left hand, while a large gold band hangs from the chain around his neck. If you were to look closely, you would see that both of their eyes are filled with silent tears of joy. Neither of them speaks, too filled with awe and joy at the little bundle wrapped up in her arms. He leans over to press a kiss to the little head covered with a dusting of dark hair, before pressing another kiss to the crown of his wife's head. As they sit there in that hospital room, they both realize that they have everything that they ever wanted, everything that they thought they could never have. And they wouldn't want it with anyone else.


	2. The Kiss

I hadn't expected her to kiss me. I had expected her to roll her eyes, flirt with me a little, and then walk away. I wouldn't have been surprised. That was our pattern, and I was comfortable with it. Talk, flirt, walk away. It was fun, easy, safe.

That was what I was doing when I told her she couldn't handle it: pointlessly flirting. It had nothing to do with actually wanting to be with her. At least that's what I told myself. She was beautiful lass, but no more beautiful than the dozens of other women that I had flirted with in the past in order to distract myself from Milah's memory for just a few moments. Just because she was pleasing to look at and fun to talk to didn't mean that I loved her.

A small voice at the back of my mind told me that I was deluding myself, and that I had fallen for her the moment I decided to turn my ship around. It told me that I must love her; why else would I be here in a land that I had already spent far too long in, a land I had sworn I would never return to? But I obstinately ignored that voice, trying to come up with some other reason for everything I had done. I gave them the bean because I owed Bae; I might not have been able to save him, but I could save his son. I saved David because it was good form; I couldn't let another person die in the way that Liam had, and I was simply honoring his memory, nothing more (I decided to forget about my response to David's question of why I had risked my life to save him). I came up with a million other excuses, and had just about managed to convince myself when she grabbed the lapels of my jacket and hauled my face towards her own.

When she pulled away, my lips sought hers out again, and that's when I knew without any shadow of a doubt that I had fallen in love with Emma Swan. I had kissed many women in my life, but it had been over three hundred years since I had experienced a kiss that made me feel like Emma's did. All of a sudden, the thought of being without her became almost unbearable, and I realized that Emma Swan was the only person that I wanted to kiss for the rest of my life. I would do anything just to have her kiss me again: give up my revenge, give up my ship, give up anything.

When she told me that it was a one-time thing and walked away, it felt like a punch to the gut. Really, I shouldn't have been surprised. Like I said, that was our pattern: talk, flirt, walk away. The flirting may have gotten little more intense this time, but there was no reason for her to think that anything had changed in our relationship. As I turned around, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. Even though Emma may not have realized it, I knew that everything about our relationship had changed just from that one small kiss. It was in that moment I knew that I wanted to love Emma Swan for the rest of my life, and that I wanted to be with her for the long haul. I could only hope that someday she would feel the same.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this right after the Season 4 finale. Hope you like it!

Silence. That is all that can be heard at this moment. The wind isn't blowing. Cars aren't driving. No one is speaking. The only thing that can be seen are five people standing in the middle of the street, all staring the small, silver object lying on the pavement, reflecting the light of the moon. If someone were to walk out of the door of one of the surrounding shops, they would never be able to guess what had transpired only moments ago.

They would never be able to guess that only moments ago, another woman was standing in the street: a woman with eyes the color of emeralds and hair the color of gold. They would never be able to guess that only moments ago she was surrounded by Darkness itself. They would never be able to guess – that only moments ago – she had willingly sacrificed herself to the Darkness and had disappeared into the sky, leaving behind only a dagger, a dagger that now reads Emma Swan across the blade.

The five people in the street remain frozen for just a moment longer. Finally, the last few seconds sink in, and the illusion of peace breaks. A sob breaks from the lips of a dark-haired woman with eyes the color of emeralds. As her shoulders shake, she turns her head into the chest of a man with hair the color of gold, gripping his shirt as though afraid he will be dragged away from her as well. His arms wrap around her tightly as silent tears stream down his cheeks.

The other couple turns to each other, hands caressing each other's faces, as if trying to make sure the other is actually there. The man asks the woman if she is alright. She responds to his question with a whimpered "Yes," before burying her face in his neck, as if afraid that the Darkness that was threatening to consume her only moments ago will return and drag her far away: away from his embrace, away from her son, away from the light that she has fought so hard to get to.

Finally, the dark-haired man with sky-blue eyes who stands in the very middle of the street - the man who now has no one to hold him, no one to reassure him, no one to love him – moves. Unsteady on his feet, he stumbles toward the dagger, and falls to his knees just as he reaches it. He closes his eyes tightly, but that is not enough to stop the tears of anguish and despair from escaping them. As his eyes open, his right hand, which is now trembling almost uncontrollably, reaches out to wrap around the hilt of the dagger. He stares at the ground for a moment, as if contemplating whether to just give up: to lie down, fall asleep, and never get back up.

The moment passes quickly however, and a second later, a look of complete and utter determination flashes across his face. His eyes harden and his jaw sets. He wipes the tears away from his eyes with a steady hand before rising to his feet and walking away with a sense of purpose in his gait.

"Hook!" one of the men calls out as he begins to walk away. "Where are you going?"

"To find your daughter," he replies, his voice steady and full of conviction. It is a cruel joke that fate has played on him today, transforming what was once his greatest enemy into who is now his greatest love. The last time he swore to find the Dark One, his only goal had been revenge, and his revenge had cost him three hundred wasted years of endless torment. But find the Dark One he did, and he will find the Dark One again.

Because now his goal is not revenge. Rather it is love, the noblest cause of all, one that is a motivator infinitely more powerful than anger or hatred. He will use that love to find her. He will use the memory of the look on her face when she realized that he was alive, the memory of her giggle as they fell on top of her bed. As he searches for her, he will think of red leather jackets and hot cocoa with cinnamon and lazy days watching Netflix on her couch. Though it pains him, he will remember the whispered I love you that she muttered seconds before she was taken away from him. He will think of how much he wants the chance to say I love you back.

He may not have any idea how to get to her but he will find a way. Because a man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets, and he does not want to become one of the men who did not fight for Emma Swan and then lost her as a result. He wants to be with her more than he has ever wanted anything in his life, and knowing that she feels the same way only makes him more determined.

Killian Jones will find Emma Swan. And then together they will start living out their Happily Ever After.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has left kudos!

Tumblr Prompt: cs adopting one of the lost boys

~/~

After the Darkness was expelled from Emma Swan and destroyed once and for all, Storybrooke became relatively calm and quiet. The only disturbances which the Storybook Sheriff's Department — which now consisted of Emma, David, and Killian — had to deal with were almost laughably minor: speeding, brawls at the Rabbit Hole, shoplifting. During the first few months, Emma was always suspicious, waiting for the next villain to come rolling into town (after all, there was a plethora of "fictional" bad guys that she had yet to meet).

But the quiet held and she and her family settled into a new normal. She and Killian moved into a house together and decided to get married a few months later. For the first time in her life, Emma finally understood what it felt like to have a sense of permanence and family. Little did she know that that family was about to get just a little bit bigger.

-/-

It was about two months after she and Killian had married that they received the call that would change their lives forever. They were woken from a peaceful slumber at seven on a Saturday morning by the insistent buzz of Emma's phone upon the nightstand.

Emma stirred and tried to escape from her husband, whose arm was slung protectively around her middle. When he felt her moving, he buried his face in her hair and groaned.

"Ignore it, love. It'll go away."

And for a moment it did. Emma was just starting to drift back to sleep when it started buzzing again. This time she was more firm in her attempts to get out of the bed.

"Killian, it might have something to do with Henry," she said when he once again refused to let her get up. At that, his arm shot away from her, and he sat up in bed, eyes wide. Emma quickly reached out and grabbed the phone, looking at the Caller ID. "It's David," she said, looking over at Killian who met her look of confusion with one of his own. She swiped the answer button with her thumb before bringing the phone to her ear, praying that the reason he was calling had nothing to do with anyone being hurt (or cursed). "Hey, Dad," she said, trying to keep her worry from creeping into her voice. "What's up?"

"Hey, Emma. I know that it's my shift at the Sheriff's station today, but Neal's come down with a slight fever and…

"Is he okay?" Emma asked, slightly tense.

"Yeah, he's fine. It's not very high, but Mary Margaret is hesitant to deal with this on her own. I was wondering if you could cover my shift. Just for today?"

"Sure," Emma said breathing a sigh of relief. "You go home now and I'll be at the station in half an hour. "

"Um…I can't exactly leave the station until you get here."

"What do you mean you can't leave?"

"I'll explain when you get here. See you in a bit."

~/~

Half an hour later, Emma pulled her bug into the parking lot of the sheriff's station. Killian sat beside her in the driver's seat, looking out the window. She had tried to convince him to go back to bed, but he had insisted that it was bad form for a man to sleep in while his wife was called off to work, never mind the fact that their job often resulted in one of them working a night shift while the other was asleep. But she appreciated the sentiment (and the company) all the same.

Walking into the station, David met them in the hallway, telling them not to go any further until he had had a chance to explain.

"What's going on, Dad?" Emma asked. "You're kind of starting to scare me a little bit."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said shaking his head. "It's nothing bad, well not really bad anyway. I just…there's not a clear way to handle it and I thought it would be better to talk about it in person than over the phone."

"Okay," Emma said, gesturing for him to continue.

"Last night I got a call from Sneezy. He caught another kid shoplifting at his store."

"Wait, last night?" Killian asked. "Why didn't you call the lad's parents and be done with it then, mate?"

David bit his lip and looked down at the floor, refusing to meet their eyes. "He's one of the Lost Boys. He doesn't have any parents."

Emma felt her breath catch in her throat. But before she had a chance to ask any more questions, David continued.

"He ran away from the orphanage that the Fairies set up and was stealing food, a box of Pop Tarts I think it was. He said he was sorry, and that he was just really hungry. He seemed genuine so I took him to Granny's and bought him a hamburger (which he wolfed down) while I had a long talk with him about stealing. I was going to take him back to the orphanage, but he begged me not to so I brought him here."

"You put a kid in a jell cell?" Emma exclaimed, shocked.

"Wha…no! No, of course not!" David looked offended that she could have even suggested the idea. "We just talked for a little while longer and then he fell asleep on the couch in your office. I would have brought him home with me, but then Snow called to tell me that the baby was sick."

"Sorry, Dad," Emma said quickly. "You did good. But Mom and Neal need you now. Go ahead back to the loft. Killian and I have got this."

~/~

"Are you alright, Emma?" Killian asked her as soon as they heard the door to the station close. "Do you want to go home? Let me deal with this?"

Emma wasn't going to lie. An orphan being caught shoplifting (and stealing Pop-Tarts, no less) hit close to home for her. But she could deal with this. In fact she wanted to deal with this. Even though she had never met him, she wanted to make sure that that kid in there was treated better than she had ever been.

"No I'm fine," she said offering him a small smile and squeezing his hand gently. "Are you?" she asked, knowing that being left alone as a child haunted him just as much as it haunted her.

"I'll admit that this situation does bring some unpleasant memories to the forefront of my mind," he said. "But I'm eager to help and try to ensure that this young lad's experience is more pleasant than my own."

At that Emma smiled. That was exactly what she had been thinking. She was happy to know that this was just as important to Killian as it was to her. "Okay," she said. "Let's go."

~/~

They walked towards the station's office slowly, hand in hand. Through the glass they could see a boy sitting in the chair, reading a book. He was a small boy of around twelve years old with olive skin and short black hair. When they entered he slowly lifted his head up from the book and looked Emma straight in the eye. He gave her a dubious look before shifting his gaze onto Killian. As soon as he saw him, his dark brown eyes lit up in excitement and he jumped out of the chair.

"Captain!" he cried out, rushing over to Killian, throwing his arms around the pirate and hugging him tightly. Although he looked slightly in shock by the display of affection, Killian returned the embrace with equal fervor.

"Teddy!" he exclaimed when they broke apart. "It's great to see you lad."

"You too, Captain," Teddy said, before shyly looking over at Emma once again.

Killian followed Teddy's gaze, making eye contact with Emma and seeing the question in her eyes. "Ah, my apologies," he said. "Teddy, this is Emma, my wife. Emma, this is Teddy, one of the Lost Boys that I befriending during my time in Neverland."

"Wait, befriended?" Emma asked incredulously.

"Contrary to what you may have surmised given the — ah — enthusiasm I showed in Neverland whilst fighting the Lost Ones," he said scratching behind his ear, "I didn't actually hate all of them. Most of them were lured to the island under false pretenses and tried not to harm me or my crew if they could help it. Teddy here was a great help to me on more than one occasion. His only job was to help gather food, and as such, Pan didn't really pay him much attention. When that adolescent demon was in one of his more darker moods, Teddy here often found refuge on my ship."

The whole time Killian was talking, Teddy was looking at her with a slightly scared look in his eyes. She wondered if he thought she was going to throw him in a cell.

Wanting to calm him down, she extended her hand out to him. "It's nice to meet you, Teddy," she said as he hesitantly took her hand and shook it. "Do you think you're ready to go back home now?" she asked kindly, although she was fairly certain she already knew what his answer would be.

He shook his head. "Please don't send me back there," he pleaded. "I would rather be on my own than go back there."

"Why, lad? Do the Fairies not treat you well there?" Killian asked.

"No, no, they're really, really nice," Teddy said quickly. "It's just hard seeing the other boys get adopted," he said, "when no one wants to take you. I thought maybe if I left I could find a family on my own."

Emma's heart clenched at his words. Again, Teddy's situation struck a cord with her. She remembered seeing the other kids getting adopted, and remembered wondering why none of those parents had ever wanted her. In that moment, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

"Teddy, how would you like to come home with us?"

~/~

Teddy fit right into their little family. Not that Emma thought he would cause any problems. Her only concern had been Henry; she wondered if maybe he would feel like he was being replaced. She needn't have worried; Teddy and Henry took to each other right away.

Teddy seemed to be happy with them. He loved their weekly trips to Granny's and the occasional dinners at her parents' loft. David offered to include him in Henry's sword fighting lessons, and he looked forward to sailing trips on the Jolly Roger almost as much as Henry did. A smile on his face was becoming a more and more regular sight.

A few months after that fateful Saturday Emma and Killian were getting ready for bed when Emma finally got the courage to say the thing that had been bouncing around in her head since she had met Teddy. She was pretty sure she knew what Killian's response would be — after all they did understand each other — but she couldn't help being the slightest bit nervous.

She got into bed and lay facing Killian's side. As soon as he slid under the covers and turned the lamp off, she took a deep breath she forced the words out of her mouth. "I want to adopt Teddy," she said firmly."Like really adopt him," she continued. "Make it official. That way he knows we want him and we love him. That way he knows we're never going to send him back."

Killian was silent for a moment and then reached out to stroke her cheek. After a moment's pause, he smiled. "Nothing would make me happier, love," he said, pulling her closer and kissing her. When they broke apart he smiled at her once again. "I'm glad that there's going to be one fewer Lost Boy in the world," he said quietly before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep. She watched him for a few minutes before she too fell asleep with a look of contentment on her face.

~/~

Emma talked to Henry first. She wasn't worried about Henry being on board — she was pretty sure that he would be just as enthusiastic about the idea as she and Killian were — but she wanted to be sure that he was okay. And as she predicted, Henry was ecstatic about the fact that he was going to gain another brother.

"Roland is great, Mom," he said, "but Teddy's a much better Halo 4 partner."

~/~

They decided to ask Teddy to become a part of their family later that afternoon. Emma went upstairs to what had become Teddy's room and knocked on the door. Teddy looked up from his book (he may have enjoyed the sword-fighting, sailing, and video game lessons, but reading was still his true passion) and smiled at her. "Hey, Teddy," she said. "Killian and I just need to talk to you downstairs real quick. It shouldn't take long." He nodded, but as he got up she noticed that his smile had faded. "It's nothing bad," she said quickly, trying to reassure him. He perked up a little at that, but still didn't seem entirely convinced.

He followed her downstairs to where Henry and Killian were sitting at the kitchen table. Emma sat down next to her husband while Teddy sat down next to Henry. Emma noticed that his palms were sweaty and that he was wringing his hands. Not wanting to prolong his discomfort any longer, she nudged Killian, trying to get him to tell Teddy the good news.

Taking the hint, Killian began to speak. "Teddy, we were all thinking that…"

"You're taking me back aren't you?" he asked, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. At that, Emma jumped up from her chair and walked around the table to where he sat, pulling him into a tight hug. He threw his arms around her but continued to sob.

"No, lad, no," Killian said, his voice soft and filled with concern. "That's the furthest thing from what we were thinking. In fact, we wanted to ask you if you wanted to stay with us permanently. We wanted to ask if it would be okay with you if we formally adopted you."

At that, Teddy pulled away from her and looked at Killian with wide eyes. "You…you guys really want to adopt me?" he asked, slowly letting go of her.

Emma's heart melted at his broken tone. She remembered feeling the way he did all too well. When Ingrid had told her that she was going to adopt her, it had sounded too good to be true. And really, it had been. But that didn't mean that it couldn't become true for Teddy.

"Yes," Emma said, firmly. "We love you and we want you to be a part of this family forever. But it's still your choice."

"Yes!" he said, nodding his head enthusiastically. "Yes, I would!"

~/~

That night at dinner as she watched her boys — her beautiful, amazing boys — chatter and eat, she felt a wave of contentment wash over her. As a lost little girl she never thought she would be able to find a family. But she, her parents, Killian, Henry, and now Teddy had all managed to make a family together, a family that she could be a part of.

She might have started out as a Lost Girl. But just like Teddy, she wasn't lost anymore.


	5. My Best Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: CS College/Childhood Best Friends to Lovers AU

They first met each other when she was eleven and he was twelve. It had been two years since she had been adopted (finally adopted!) by a young couple from Boston. When David and Mary Margaret Nolan had first brought her to their little house with a white picket fence around the front yard and a golden retriever named Tink inside, she was sure that it wouldn’t last. No matter how many times they told her that they loved her and that she was here to stay, she couldn’t quite bring herself to unpack her suitcase. 

In an attempt to show her that they were indeed genuine in what they were saying, they told her that she could pick something to join (anything she wanted). They thought that letting her become a part of something — whether it be a basketball team or a dance troupe (or anything, really) — would show her that all they really wanted was to make her happy. So when she came up to them one night and told them she wanted to join a swim team, they told her it was a great idea and found a team for her to join the very next day. And after a week of practices she finally unpacked her suitcase. 

And it turned out she was pretty good. Even though she had only been on the team for two years, she was already keeping up with kids who had been swimming since they were five or six. But far more importantly, for the first time in her life, she made friends. On her very first day, a girl named Elsa, who was small and blonde like her, asked her if she wanted to swim in her lane, and from that day forward, they became the best of friends. Over time, they added more to their group: Ruby Lucas (who refused to wear swimsuits that were any other color than red), Belle French (who often had a book or two in her swim bag in addition to towels and goggles), and Regina Mills (who, though she had hated Emma at first, had become one of Emma’s dearest friends). 

Then one day a new kid named Killian Jones joined the team. He was a gangly boy with a nose too big for his face and a funny way of speaking. He was shy and didn’t really talk to anyone unless they talked to him first. Emma liked him instantly. They hit it off right away, and in the months that followed, they became best friends. She became even closer with him than she was with Elsa. 

Part of the reason she liked him so much was because he understood what it meant to be an orphan too. His mother had died when he was ten, and he had moved with his father and brother to the States shortly after. However, his father had abandoned him a few months after that, leaving him to fend for himself. Fortunately, his brother Liam, who was ten years his senior, had taken him in (even though he didn’t have to), saving him from the foster care system that Emma had just recently escaped. Emma told him that she was sorry about his father, but he just shrugged and said that he had always liked Liam better anyway. That didn’t stop Emma from offering to punch his father in the face if she ever had the misfortune to meet him. He smiled at that.

~/~

For the next three years, they were inseparable. He was there for her when she broke her arm climbing a fence on a dare, and he visited her at home every day until she was able to come back to swimming. She was there for him when he was disqualified from one of his races at a championship meet, urging him to shake it off and focus on his next race. 

Unfortunately for them, however, Liam was in the Navy, which meant that he could be asked to move at a moment’s notice. It was the summer before Emma’s freshman year of high school when Killian delivered the news to her: he and Liam would be moving clear across the country to California. At first, she was angry. She threw a book at his head (it wasn’t one of her hardback  _Harry Potter_  books, so she really hadn’t been  _that_ mad) and told him never to talk to her again. 

She turned up on his porch later that evening with tears in her eyes and an apology on her lips. He pulled her into a hug and assured her that all was forgiven. They barely left each other’s sight for the rest of the summer, trying to spend all the time they could together before he left.

When the day for him to leave finally came, he promised to call her every week so that she wouldn’t forget him. She smacked him on the shoulder and called him an idiot, but admitted that she would like it very much if he would do that for her. They hugged one last time before he turned around to join Liam in the cab of the U-Haul truck they were driving to California. He waved to her as they pulled out of the drive, and Emma didn’t stop staring in the direction the car had driven until long after it was out of sight.

~/~

Killian kept his promise and called her every Saturday morning without fail. She always made sure to turn the ringer up as loud as it would go every Friday night to make sure that even if she was sleeping she would be awake to talk to him. And she answered no matter where she was: at home, at a sleepover with friends, it didn’t matter. He was far too important for her to ever miss a call.

After the first few months, she wondered if they would run out of things to talk about, but it turns out they never did. He told her about swimming in California, how it was much more competitive there than back in Massachusetts. She told him about life in Boston, how the team was doing. They talked about the movies they had seen, and what new bands they were listening to. They talked and talked, usually only hanging up when her parents or his brother called them away.  

And just like before, they were there for each other during the hard times. She consoled him during his breakup with a girl named Milah, and he listened while she cried after catching her (now ex) boyfriend Walsh making out with another girl. But it wasn’t just sad times they shared. She squealed with unadulterated excitement when, during his senior year, he called to tell her that he had been accepted to Stanford. And he reacted in the exact same way when she called the following year to tell him that she had been accepted as well. 

When she finally made the decision to attend Stanford, she was met with nothing but support from her parents. She knew that if it had been any other school, they (and even she herself) might have been worried that she was only going there to be with Killian. But they knew that he wasn’t the only reason. That school had been a dream of hers long before Killian Jones had come into her life (although she could admit to herself that him being there was a really nice perk). 

~/~

A few months after making her decision she found herself standing outside of his dorm room raising her hand to knock. Her parents had left only minutes ago after helping her unpack and crying about how they couldn’t believe their little girl was all grown up (she had rolled her eyes, but had hugged them tightly before they left). She was beyond excited to see Killian and bounced nervously from foot to foot as she waited for him to open the door. A moment later the door was pulled open, and his blue eyes lit up in excitement as they met her green ones. 

“Emma!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around her excitedly and squeezing her hard.

“It’s good to see you too,” she said in reply to his bear-hug. When they finally broke apart, she was able to take his appearance in for the first time since he had moved. He looked different. Really different. The small, gangly boy she once knew was no more. Standing in front of her was a…well…a man. A really handsome man who had finally grown into his nose. She was so caught up in noticing the differences between this Killian and the one she remembered that she didn’t realize he had been talking to her until he said her name.  

“Emma?”

“Hm?” she asked, being broken out of her thoughts. She noticed him staring at her, and she blushed profusely. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m just a little tired I guess.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her but didn’t press it. “I was just asking you if maybe you wanted to get dinner with me tonight?”

“Yeah, sure!” 

~/~

Her first semester was going great. She was doing well in her classes, and she was making friends. Everything had changed, but one thing was the same: Killian Jones still remained her best friend. Their weekly calls had turned into weekly lunches and dinners. Every Saturday without fail, they managed to find time for each other. But she soon began to grow slightly dissatisfied with their relationship. She couldn’t seem to figure out why until one day when she saw another girl flirting with him. A pang of jealousy overtook her, and that was when she realized: she had a crush on Killian Jones. 

Now that her brain had finally caught up with her emotions, she was faced with a pressing dilemma: whether she should tell him or keep her feelings to herself. The movies and TV shows she had watched over the years seemed to suggest that falling for your best friend could only result in heartache for both people involved, especially if the feelings were one-sided. But she shook her head. She was smarter than that. She knew that even if he didn’t want her  _like that_ , she would never have to worry about losing him as a friend.

~/~

When they returned to her dorm room (he always insisted on walking her back, claiming it was  _good form_ ), she asked him to stay for a while. Her roommate was gone for the weekend, so she knew that no one would interrupt them. If he found her request strange, he didn’t say anything, just nodded his assent before following her into the room. 

She sat down on her bed and gestured for him to sit next to her. After a moment of awkward silence, she began to speak.

“Killian, you know you’re my best friend right?”

“Yes, Emma, of course. You know I do.”

“Well what if I told you I wanted to give being more than friends a shot?” she asked shakily looking at the floor and refusing to meet his eyes. “Because I like you,” she continued, her voice gradually growing more steady. “And I want to try being with you.”

When she finished speaking she continued to stare at the floor, until she felt Killian’s fingers brush her chin and force her to look up. When she finally looked at his face, she noticed that his eyes were bright and he was smiling. “Oh, Emma,” he said breathlessly. “I want to be with you too.”

“Really?” she asked, hardly able to believe what she was hearing.

“Yes,” he said nodding. “I’ve liked you for a long time now. But I’ve been too much of a bloody coward to ask you out,” he said, and she blushed and chuckled.

Another pregnant pause passed between them, but unlike the silence before this was comfortable. However, a second later Killian spoke.

“May I kiss you now Emma?” he asked, his voice hopeful. She smiled and nodded her head, and a moment later their lips met in a gentle kiss.

She didn’t know if it would work out. Maybe best friends was all that they were ever meant to be. But here in this moment, with his arms wrapped around her and his lips moving softly against her own, she knew that she had to at least give them a chance. 

~/~

Turns out she needn’t have worried. Twelve years after the day they first met, Killian Jones asked Emma Swan to marry him. And of course she said yes. 

~/~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!


	6. In Another Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr Prompt: I've always wanted to know what would've happened if Killian met Emma instead of Neal. And could you please make it that Killian doesn't abandon her like Neal?

 

The Darkness was indeed a funny thing indeed, Emma decided. She had thought that it would tap into her darkest desires, make her want to do bad things. Maybe set someone's house on fire or find a heart to crush. She hadn't expected it to prey on her regrets, on all the what ifs in her life.

_Don't you wonder what things could have been like?_  it asked.  _If Regina hadn't cast her curse? If you hadn't given Henry away?_  She shook her head and clapped her hands over her ears (even though she knew the voice was inside her head, that trying to make it go away was a fruitless endeavor).

_Or maybe you wonder what would have happened if someone else had been in that car all those years ago?_  the Darkness prompted. That got her attention. What was it talking about? And in that split second when she was off guard, the Darkness pounced.

She tried to fight, really she did. But in the end, the Darkness was just too strong. It surrounded her, engulfed her, made her close her eyes.

And when she opened her eyes, she didn't remember any of the past twelve years.

~/~

A seventeen-year-old Emma Swan walked down the street, looking over her shoulder nervously to see if anyone was following her. It seemed like the alleyway was deserted for now.  _Good._

A few seconds later she came upon her target: a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. It had been here for the past few days, just sitting. She assumed that since it was older, the owner didn't really have much use for it anymore (that was what she told herself to justify stealing it).

Working quickly, she popped the door open and started the engine using a screwdriver. A moment later she was on the road. It looked like she was going to get away clean.

"You know, lass, if you wanted the keys, all you had to do was ask," a voice said from the back seat.

Emma yelled out in shock before looking in the rearview mirror to meet the blue eyes of the stranger in the back seat. His dark hair was sticking up every which way and his clothes (which consisted of black sweatpants and a hoodie) looked rumpled. He had obviously been sleeping in this car, which was probably why it had been in the same spot for so long without moving. Sighing defeatedly, she pulled the car into a parking lot and put it in park before turning around to face him.

"You gonna call the cops?" she asked defensively, trying to steady her voice so as not to betray the fear that she was feeling.

He considered her for a moment. "No," he said. "You don't seem like the type who would steal a car for malicious purposes." He continued to study her and Emma shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that you're in a bad situation and you're only stealing this car to get away from it."

Emma's jaw fell open in surprise. "How do you know that?" she asked.

"You're something of an open book, love." She continued to look at him distrustfully until he spoke again. "Look, I'm not trying to be difficult," he said. "Let me buy you lunch and we can call this all a big misunderstanding."

She nodded and he smiled and tossed her the keys. "Where to?" she asked.

~/~

His name was Killian Jones, and judging by his accent (and his old-fashioned way of speaking) he wasn't from around here. When she had asked him where he was from ("London maybe?") he had simply told her that she wouldn't believe him, and (since he hadn't set her lie detector off at any point during their conversation) she hadn't pushed him. Let him have his secrets she thought. Maybe he was coming from a situation that was just as bad as hers and all he wanted was to forget, to have a fresh start.

They talked for a while longer about trivial things. And as they talked she found herself liking him more and more. But it was time to go. The more distance she put between herself and the group home the better. When she got up to leave, he grabbed her gently by the hand, asking her to wait a moment.

"I know that we only just met each other and that I'll probably sound like a mad-man for asking," he said tentatively. "But I was wondering if maybe you wanted to stick together. I mean, I understand if you don't want to, but I do have the car, and you seem to know a lot more about this rea…er…city than I do, and so I just thought maybe we could help each other. If you want?"

Emma bit her lip. Her brain was screaming at her to run. How did she know she could trust this guy? She had just met him. This whole situation looked like it would just turn into another Lily debacle. And yet…

"Sure," she said. "I guess we can stick together. For now."

~/~

For the first few months, Emma kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Things with Killian were good. Sure, they were living in a car, but at least they had somewhere to sleep every night. Each of them found odd jobs to work throughout the day, which most of the time were enough to keep their bellies full. Of course, there occasionally wasn't enough food for both of them. But Killian always refused to let her be the one to go hungry.

"It would be bad form, Swan" he had said one night, when she tried to make him eat the food he had offered her, "to let a lass as beautiful as you go hungry." When she tried to protest he had grabbed her hand and made her look him in the eye. "I'll be alright, Emma," he said. "It's nothing I haven't dealt with before."

She wanted to ask him what he meant, why he'd had to deal with hunger before. But she didn't press it. If there was one thing that she had learned about Killian Jones, it was that he did not want to discuss his past. At all.

~/~

It was a cold October morning when she awoke to someone singing "Happy Birthday" to her. She opened her eyes to find Killian looking at her from the passenger's seat in the bug, holding a single cupcake in his hands.

"How did you know?" she asked quietly when he was done singing, taking the cupcake from his hands and setting it on the seat next to her. It would have to stay there while they had their inevitable argument over whether or not they would share it.

"I have my ways, love," he said winking. "Now I didn't manage to procure a candle, but you can still make a wish all the same."

She stared at the cupcake, overwhelmed with emotion. But instead of making a wish, she decided to do something else instead. Looking back at Killian, she slowly leaned forward and placed her hand on his cheek. He looked at her questioningly before she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.

~/~

After her birthday, they wandered around aimlessly for a few more months, trying to find a place to settle permanently together. They eventually settled on a small town near the coast. She managed to find work as a waitress in a diner, while he got work on the docks. Eventually, they saved up enough to start renting a small apartment. It wasn't much, but it was theirs.

She was blissfully, incandescently happy until the day he came home with a sad look on his face, telling her that they needed to talk. When they sat down on the couch, she was sure she knew what was going to happen: he was going to leave her. He was going to tell her that she was too broken to love, that he was done, that he would be packing his clothes and leaving in the morning.

What she hadn't expected was for him to tell her that he was from a different realm, a realm of magic and that he had fallen through a portal and into this world after his brother died. She hadn't expected him to tell her that he had run into someone else from that land, someone who knew about her, knew about her true destiny. She hadn't expected him to tell her that she was the lost daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and that she was destined to break the Curse that had torn them away from her.

And she certainly hadn't expected him to tell her that he had refused to leave her. The stranger — August — had told Killian that he was a distraction, that he would get in the way of her fulfilling her destiny. Killian said that he had told August, in no uncertain terms, that he would die before he abandoned her. He had promised to bring her to her parents on her twenty-eighth birthday, and although August hadn't seemed happy about it, he had nodded and left.

When he finished, she couldn't take it anymore. She stood up, and without a word, opened the door and walked out. She wandered the streets aimlessly for hours, trying to sort through her thoughts. She didn't know what to do. She loved him, but everything he had said was crazy.

That pulled her up short. She had just admitted to herself that she loved him. And that was when she realized she had to go back. Crazy or not, she loved him they would work it out.

She ran back to the apartment and pushed the door open with all her might. Killian sprang up from where he had been sitting on the couch (had he stayed there the whole time she had been gone?) and walked over to her, enveloping her in a tight hug. "I love you," she said when they finally broke apart, "and I'm sorry I left. It might take me some time to believe you. But I'm willing to try."

"Oh, Swan," he said, brushing her hair out of her face. "I love you too. And I have all the time in the world. Even if you never do believe, I'm in this for the long haul."

~/~

A lot changed over the next ten years but in some of the best ways possible. When she was twenty-two, Killian asked her to marry him and of course she said yes. Their wedding was a quiet affair at the courthouse, with her dressed in a simple white sundress and him in a second-hand suit. There were no guests there, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was the look of pure joy on the other's face when the officiant proclaimed them man and wife. Five years later, she gave birth to a son who was the spitting image of her husband. They named him Liam, after Killian's brother.

It was a few days before her twenty-eighth birthday when they packed up the bug and began their journey to Storybrooke. She had still been a little skeptical and had questioned whether it was a good idea for them to go (although her reluctance had had more to do with the fact that little Liam was only a few months old, and not the fact that the whole idea of a Curse still seemed crazy). But Killian had pressed her.

"If it turns out to be nothing, we'll come right back," he said. "And I'll drop it."

She had wanted to argue, to tell him that it was pointless. But she could see in his eyes how important this was to him. So she gave in. Maybe a road trip would be fun.

Storybrooke didn't show up on any maps, so when they finally got to Maine they followed the instructions that August had given Killian all those years ago. And when they finally happened upon a sign that said  _Welcome to Storybrooke_  her jaw dropped in shock. She turned her head to look at her husband, who had stopped the car and was looking at her, gauging her reaction.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you," she said. "All these years, I thought this place didn't exist. But being here, seeing this town that shouldn't even be here, well. It makes me believe that everything else might just be possible too."

"It's alright, love," he said softly. "Now, are you ready to find your parents?" She nodded.

And then she woke up.

~/~

It was a dream. It had all been a dream. A dream constructed by the Darkness to get her to break. And for a moment, she was afraid it might succeed.

_Give in_ , it whispered to her.  _Give in and you can have this life. Rumpelstiltskin was weak. Even with this power he was not strong enough to change fate. But you can be. All you have to do is give in._

For a moment, Emma was tempted. That life was good, so good. Even better than New York. But just like New York, she knew it wasn't real. Besides, in that life, she didn't have Henry. For all the pain that Neal had caused her, there was one amazing thing that had come out of their relationship: her son. Her wonderful, amazing son.

And even if she somehow could have her son in that life, she couldn't do that to him or to Killian: take their real memories away and force them to live a lie. She could have everything in that dream that was important — family, love — but she would get it the right way, the hero's way. And to do that, she had to beat this Darkness.

_No!_  she said when it once again entreated her to give in.  _I won't do it! I can be happy without YOU!_  she screamed as a pulse of Light Magic rippled through her body.

At that, the Darkness receded. She knew that it wasn't gone completely, that it would rear its ugly head again, but she had won for now. And just like every other crisis she had faced since coming to Storybrooke, she wouldn't have to defeat it alone. She had faith that her family — her parents, her son, her pirate — would find her and that they would defeat the darkness.  _Together._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


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